LITTLE STEPS ADD UP TO GIANT STEPS

Calli, one of my nine-year-old clarinet students had a challenge: she wanted to win an audition into the advanced band at her school and go with them to their Disneyland concert.

But she'd only been playing for just over four months, and the audition piece was way over her skill level.  She'd even auditioned once before and was stopped mid-performance.

But she was determined. I broke the song down for her into little phrases, some only a few notes long, and we worked on finger placement and tonguing exercises too.

Friends, before I tell you how this story ends, what I've described for you is an important learning/teaching tool.

Isolate, then integrate.  Meaning, separate out the difficult passages, break them down to just two notes if you have to, practice slowly, build up speed and confidence, then string them back together.

Back to Calli:

This time when she went in to audition, the teacher stopped her, then asked the class to applaud.

She did it -- Calli's going to Disneyland with the band.

Next? Learning that success brings greater responsibility in the form of harder pieces to learn and delivery in performance.

But I think she can do it.

And Calli? She KNOWS she can do it.

practicing, scales, saxophone, music lessons, clarinet, woodwinds, music instruction, teaching strategies 

METRONOME OPTIONS FOR HATERS

Yeah, I know -- so many of my students truly hate practicing to a metronome. One student even said it reminded him of his mother!

I understand. Sort of.

I was watching a tutorial on YouTube in which the legendary Michael Brecker  said even he got depressed when he used his metronome because it busted him for rushing.

But if it wasn't one of the most important tools available to sax players at every level of the game, I wouldn't harp on you all to use a metronome at home, nor would I bring mine to lessons.

Trying to learn to play music without a metronome is like trying to get somewhere without a map: you end up all over the place.

And if and when you do gig with a band, you'll stick out like a sore thumb because you will likely have timing issues from not having gotten down with your metronome.

But -- there are alternatives you may find that are even better than the steady blip-blip-bleep coming out of the little black box.

Rhythm tracks, for example. You can buy them online and download for use. YouTube only has about a million of them under various headings, such as this funk groove drum beat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiz-pj5FMSE

Whatever you decide on, use your metronome or a backing drum track every day without fail for a portion of your practice session.

You can thank me later.

rhythm studies,  saxophone advice, music lessons, metronome, rhythm tracks, saxophone, woodwinds, rhythm, beats

PRACTICING WHAT I PREACH

I agree -- sometimes, practicing is all about doing those things that I don't really want to do.

And, doing them in a way that gets results rather than just doing what I call mindless practice -- you know what I mean: checking messages while practicing, texting, scanning YouTube, watching TV, and on and on.

Lately, a friend posted some vids of me jamming at a blues club on YouTube, and the sound of my horn about made me cringe.

I was out of tune.

Granted, I couldn't hear this during the performance because of the amps and drums and the lack of a stage monitor, but so be it.

There I was, out of tune.  In public.

So, I went back to practicing long tones with a tuner, and then I thought about some of the other tools I'd been avoiding, like the metronome.

Yep. Resumed working with that, too.

And then I thought about yet another one of the 'T's" I'd been neglecting, and that was transcribing.

I've always found transcribing to be cumbersome and difficult...even though when I do it, my playing improves.

So, I went to work on transcribing an Illinois Jacquet solo. Transcribing is simply one of the best tools we have at our disposal. Nothing forces us to listen more carefully, nor to learn the note-by-note of how a master instrumentalist approaches ideas, than by transcribing a solo to our horns.

No, don't write it down. Listen to the the point that you can sing every note, then, begin to play and memorize on your horn.

Yes. It can take a lot of time and effort, but by the end, you will have learned more than you bargained for.

Remember the three T's when you practice next time: Time, Tune, and Transcribe.  You'll be glad you did.

saxophone, lessons, transcribe, metronome, intonation, tuner, rhythm, jazz rhythm, blues rhythm, woodwind solo